POMONA >> Practical advice for the restoration of a vintage home or maintaining a contemporary one will be offered at no cost Saturday during the annual Old Home Restoration Workshop organized by Pomona Heritage.

The workshop consists of a series of seminars on a wide range of topics such as basic window repairs, composting, kitchen gardens, restoring wooden floors, older home foundations and information on selecting and trimming trees, said Dan McIntire, president of Pomona Heritage, which organizes the event.

“A lot of these are applicable to any kind of house,” he said.

The workshop begins at 9 a.m. Saturday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 676 N. Gibbs St.

Those interested in attending can arrive in the morning and pick up a program and stay for one seminar or spend all morning attending different sessions, McIntire said.

The workshop is designed to help residents living in all types of homes, he said

“You don’t have to live in an old home or live in a historic district,” McIntire said

A seminar on tree basics is designed to provide those attending information on selecting and trimming trees along with offering information on the city’s regulations involving the trimming and removal of trees, he said.

In another seminar, Brad Johnson, Pomona planning manager, along with a city code enforcement officer will discuss guidelines and the steps homeowners should take before making exterior changes on houses located within historic districts, McIntire said.

Those interested in raising their own chickens may want to sit in on the “Raising Urban Chickens” seminar.

Through his work as a general contractor McIntire has found many people are raising chickens at home, he said. The seminar is designed to assist people be responsible chicken owners.

City regulations allow up to nine hens on a residential lot but no roosters are allowed, he said.

During the seminar participants will learn how to keep healthy chickens while being respectful to neighbors, he said.

After lunch those attending the workshop will be able to visit the home of Bob and Karen Stoltz on Columbia Avenue within the Lincoln Park Historic District.

Those who visit the Stoltz will be able to see part of the work that’s involved in restoring a vintage house and ask questions, McIntire said.

The couple has been living in their 1926 Tudor Revival-style house for less than a year and are in the early stages of doing restoration work, Bob Stoltz said.

Restoration work is familiar territory for the couple. They restored a 1909 Craftsman in Whittier that they worked on for 12 years. When they finished they sold the house and found the home they are in now in Pomona.

So far the Stoltzes have put a new roof on the house, done work on the heating and ventilation system and uncovered original details on the house that had been covered over in the 1960s, Stoltz said.

One of the bigger projects will be transforming a room addition and a kitchen remodeling job that were both completed in the 1960s, he said.

“Over the next few years we want to make that ‘60s addition fit with the house,” Stoltz said.

“In the ‘60s this was just a 40-year-old house,” he said.

At the time homes such as his were not seen as having historic value, and changes were often made that were not consistent with the architectural style of the home, Stoltz added.

The family is glad to be able to open up their home to people interested in improving their homes.

“There’s not too much pressure because it’s a work in progress,” he said, adding there will be greater pressure after he and his wife have had a few years to work on the house.

Stoltz, who attended the Pomona Heritage’s workshop with his wife even before they lived in Pomona, said the seminars provide useful information and an opportunity to talk with other people about restoration and home improvement projects as well as meeting neighbors.

Tackling restoration work can take up a good part of a homeowner’s time, McIntire said.

“It can be kind of a solitary experience when you’re working on your house and have a lot of projects,” McIntire said.

The workshop provides an opportunity to meet people interested in vintage homes, in working on their houses and to exchange ideas and share their home improvement experiences, he said.